Rating: *** 1/2*

Another great issue by Geoff Johns with this month’s issue of Adventure Comics.  Our story opens with the U.S. military being attacked by Brainiac’s ship.  Inside the ship we see Brainiac and Lex Luthor.  Brainiac wants revenge on Superman for their recent altercation and he’s teamed up with Luthor to help him do just that.  In return, Luthor is promised control of the Earth. 

Luthor was in prison and he was under the watchful eye of General Sam Lane, the father of Lois Lane.  General Lane viewed the recent arrival of the Kandor Kryptonians as a threat to Earth and was using Lex to create weapons to defend Earth.  On Brainiac’s ship, we see one of those “weapons” in a human being floating in a tank.  This project is called Project: Alien Farm which Luthor says is a personal one - “it’s a about family,” he says.  Could Lex Luthor possibly be cloning another Superboy?  Is he using Conner’s DNA again or is he using DNA from another Kryptonian?  If it’s another Conner it should make things very interesting. 

The main plot of this Superboy story focuses on Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, and her dinner date with Conner.  Conner is still going over the lists that he was working on in the last issue and on his list for Luthor he writes, “Goes Bald” which has Conner nervously examining his scalp to see if he’s loosing his hair.  Very funny.

Conner and Cassie have dinner at a picnic table outside the Kent farmhouse high in the sky thanks to Krypto who is holding the table up on his back.  Cassie and Conner talk about their feelings and the time they missed.  She also admits to Conner that while he was dead, she ended up kissing Tim Drake.  Conner understands and tells her it doesn’t matter.  He admits that he loves her and she says that she loves him too.  They then share a kiss.  Very sweet moment.  I hope Cassie is around more in this book as a supporting character.  The relationship between these two characters is great.

We end with our story going back to Luthor.  He’s been in prison so long, he’s unaware of all the recent news including the death of Batman.  But that is not the news that shocks him as he’s floored to find out that his “son” Superboy is now alive.  How will this all play out?  It’s going to be great when we see all of this play out especially if Luthor has created a new Superboy.
Our second story stars the Legion of Super Heroes, of course.  As I mentioned in my first review I don’t know much about the history of the Legion so my reviews will not be all that great as I don’t have a previous frame of reference to all the past storylines.  In this story we see Lightning Lad visiting his evil brother Mekt Ranzz, Lightning Lord.  To many Legion fans, it’s known that on the planet Winath, where they were born, everyone has a twin except Mekt.  But Mekt reveals to Garth that this not true and that he does in fact have a twin and he wants Garth to find him.  Garth accepts the mission and heads off to Winath.  Cool plot.  I just wish there was more to the story than a few pages.

Although this is my first introduction to the Legion I like what Geoff is doing here so far and look forward to the rest of the story.  Superboy is much more interesting to me and that storyline is shaping up to be a huge throwdown which I’m sure will also feature Superman.  I love how Geoff has re-invented Brainiac.  The character is much more frightening and evil. 

I hope Geoff stays on this book for a while.  I have a feeling he’s got a lot of fun stories in him that could be looked upon as classics years from now.  Absolutely recommend this book.  Even if you’re not familiar with the characters like I am with the Legion, you will not be disappointed.